GMOs are a software for commercialising our meals programs – PFAG
Mr. Bismarck Owusu Nortey, the Executive Director of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), has noticed that selling Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in Ghana might result in commercialisation of the nation’s meals programs.
He stated if care will not be taken the nation’s meals programs can be within the “hands of superpowers,” who would management and direct how the nation ought to handle its meals programs.
Mr. Nortey made this remark in Wa throughout a stakeholder and group engagement on agroecology and meals sovereignty as a part of actions to mark the International Day of Rural Women (IDRW).
It was aimed to create a platform to deepen consciousness and information of GMOs and to debate methods for selling sustainable agriculture.
Mr. Nortey stated PFAG strongly against the federal government’s determination to cross laws that allowed for the commercialisation of GMOs in Ghana resulting from its potential affect on meals manufacturing.
He stated, “In the nation, we’ve our personal farmer-managed programs, we’ve our personal conventional meals programs, conventional seed programs, we’ve our personal varieties that we produce, that are resilient to local weather change.
So, why don’t we moderately promote what we’ve, the indigenous information we’ve, as an alternative of selling a know-how alien to the Ghanaian meals programs.”
The Association additionally reiterated calls to the federal government to declare a state of emergency on unlawful mining resulting from its grave toll on agricultural manufacturing.
Mr. Nortey indicated that other than the destruction of productive farmlands, unlawful mining additionally destroyed water our bodies which might be used for agricultural manufacturing.
“If we don’t take decisive motion in opposition to unlawful mining, we are going to face a generational meals disaster as a rustic.
Even although the federal government has introduced some measures, we really feel these measures are usually not sustainable sufficient,” he said.
Mr. Justin Bayor, the Head of Programmes, Campaigns and Innovations at ActionAid Ghana, stated meals sovereignty and indigenous seed growth additionally ensured folks’s proper to outline their meals programs, meals varieties and meals independence.
He added that selling indigenous seed manufacturing assured native meals manufacturing, equitable entry to assets, and empowerment of smallholder farmers.
“By prioritising food sovereignty, we can ensure that communities have control over their food sources, leading to more resilient and self-sufficient food systems and health issues”, Mr Bayor defined.
Mr. Daniel Banuoku, Deputy Director of the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organisational Development (CIKOD), stated the Ghanaian indigenous seeds had been local weather resilient and of various maturity intervals to satisfy the farmer’s wants.
He, due to this fact, inspired farmers to revisit the indigenous seeds to enhance their tons in agriculture at a diminished price since they didn’t require a lot fertilizer and had been additionally local weather resilient.
Pognaa Fatima Osman, the Queenmother of the Tabiesi group, who participated within the discussion board, stated she had gained information on GMOs and would prolong that information to the group to allow them to understand the significance of indigenous seeds.
Traditional leaders and farmers from some districts and municipalities within the area attended the discussion board organised by the PFAG in partnership with ActionAid Ghana and CIKOD.
Source: GNA
